How To Stop Front Knee Pain With Calf Stretch

(0:00) This is a great easy and exercise to do
(0:04) to help remove pain from your knee when you have pain in the front
(0:07) side of your knee. This may also work for pain on the inside and the outside
(0:12) of the knee, but more in the front region of the knee as opposed to the rear.
(0:17) Now, one of the number one things I see when people come to my office
(0:21) is knee pain. They come in for knee pain – I’ve had surgery or I haven’t had surgery or
(0:25) whatever is going on,
(0:26) but I’ve got knee pain and it’s in the front of the knee. This is the most common one I see
(0:30) and inevitably the calves are extremely tight
(0:34) either from exercise or complete lack of
(0:37) activity or whatever it is, they’re extremely tight.
(0:41) Often, there’s limited ankle flexibility.
(0:44) So it’s a very quick and easy exercise for you to do.
(0:48) I’ve got a wall right behind me here. I’m going to use it.
(0:51) Use a wall. You want a hard surface. This is a very thin carpet.
(0:55) You can use a thin carpet, you can use a yoga mat on cement or wood.
(0:59) A wood floor is great, bare feet is best.
(1:03) I’ve got Vibram Five Fingers on – they’re kind of like bare feet –
(1:06) and I’m using those today.
(1:09) Socks, not so much. You want to have your feet be able to spread.
(1:13) So I take my rear foot, I’m going to shove my heel
(1:16) into the crevice where the floor meets the wall. I’m going to look back to make sure
(1:20) that my rear foot is completely facing forward
(1:23) and that’s not angled out to the side. Now the front foot I’m going to step out
(1:27) a comfortable distance and if I’m losing my balance this way
(1:31) I’m going to move my feet apart this way to give me more stability,
(1:34) keeping them facing straightforward. Hands on my hips.
(1:38) Then I’m simply going to bend the front leg, completely straighten the back leg,
(1:42) shove my heel into that crevice at the floor and the wall.
(1:45) My heel wants to lift, my knee wants to bend – this one, this is the injured
(1:49) leg right now. Shove that heel into the wall, straighten the leg.
(1:54) The crevice at the bottom of the buttock, it’s deep.
(1:58) It wants to pop out – do not let it.
(2:01) This is how you will stretch your calf. The front foot –
(2:05) my weight rests just in front of the heel, not on the front of the foot.
(2:10) Initially you’ll stand on the pad of your foot – do not.
(2:13) Move the weight back to just in the rear portion
(2:17) your medial arch, just in front of the heel. Straighten out your leg,
(2:21) lower your body down as you bend this knee. Now if this knee gets too far forward
(2:26) and it’s in front of my toes, I’m going to step my foot
(2:29) forward a little bit. Straight out your leg, bend the front knee,
(2:32) hips stay square, body stays erect not forward – erect.
(2:36) That will increase the stretch in a calf here. Then I’ll
(2:39) go ahead and balance out. Now if this is the injured knee
(2:43) or the knee with pain and
(2:47) it hurts to bend this knee as I going into this exercise here
(2:51) for the other side – you always balance it out and do both sides – then I’m going to straighten it,
(2:56) I’m just going to step farther, farther forward and probably a little more out the sides
(3:01) so I’ll need some more stability here.
(3:02) Impassively stretch this rear leg, shoving that heel down into the floor,
(3:06) straight your leg – the quad, here, is engaged 110 percent, it’s completely hard.
(3:11) Hips want to do this, do not let them. Bring them square and then step out of it.
(3:17) It’s a great way to increase your ankle flexibility and the flexibility of your calf,
(3:24) the elasticity of your calf, and remove some of that knee pain.
(3:27) Give it a try.